Method of forming expanded bearing-surfaces.



T. H. SYMINGTON.

METHOD or FORMING EXPANDED BEARING SURFACES.

APPLICATION PILED'MAB. 20. 1912.

Patented Nov. 26, 1912.

w wk

mNr

THOMAS HARRISON SYIKINGTON, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

METHOD OF FORMING EXPANDED BEARING-SURFACES.

meanest.

Snectflcationoi' Letters tatent.

Patenteol Now. as, sets.

Application filled- Earch so, 1912. serial No. 635,018.

0 all whom it may concei e:

Be it known that It, 'lHoMAs SYMING: ion, acitizen of the United Statesoi America, residing at city of Baltimore, State ct Maryland, haveinvented certain new and useful improvements in Methods of FormingExpanded Bearing-Surfaces, of which the following is a specification.

in the railway draftgear of the type now in general use, thedrawing'stress is t 'ansmitted to the shock-absorbing member by means ofa pair of links or a yoke, the shock-absorbing member being mounted between the links or Within the yoke, and inclosed between followers, ineither case the links or the arms of the yoke are provided withregistering slots at their forward, ends, and a key secured to thedraw-bar and ex;- tending through the slots bears against the front endsor faces of the slots thus transmits the tension stress to the iinks oryoke. .in the case of the links there are corresponding rear slots,land. a rear key therein eneages the rear follower, the tension heingtransniitteii from the rear faces of the rear slots to the key ancl thenceto the follower which applies it v e shockahsorhing member. in the casethe yolre, the rear arm of the latter hears the foliower and transmitsthe tension stress thereto in the same manner as does the rear key usedwith the links or it may be otherwise arranged. its the plieoi to thefront faces of the 1 nt slots and the rear of the sl oi the iinks, anoito the front taces of the in the yoke, tends to wear these faces and theof the hey, it has been found sable (BX-- pans the bearing surfaces,anti ior p pose shoulders have been provided on e links 3116i yokeadjacent the enois of the slots at which this Wear occurs.

in orcler that there may he no iost motion in the dratt gear which wouldresult in unnecessary hammering when the stress applied to the gearchanges-from tension to compression, or vice versa, it is very important that the bearing surfaces, 2'. e., the front faces of the frontslots and the rear faces of the rear slots in the iinhs, and the frontfaces of the slots in the yoke, onet the end of the finished sic-t.

front face of the rear arm thereof, he accurately spaced.

Previously, in the manufacture of links and yokes oi the kind. which 1have described, bearing surfaces of a Width greater than the normalthickness 01? t e link or yolxe have been provided by Welding pieces ofmetal the hlanlrs from whichithe links or yokes are to he made. Cine ofthese is placed at each point on the blanks Where such a bearin surfaceis to he formed, a. e, Where the ens of the slot is to be. "ihen theslot is punched with its enoi piercing the neinforcecl portion. Theiinishecl lint: or yoi-te thus has an increased thickness and anincreased bearing surface the end the slot, but this is a comparativelyexpensive operation and defective in the punch is forced to one side bya variable amount owiig" to the difierence in thickness of meta-i thetwo encis of the slot and the conseuentdifference resistance. it(iifiicnlt to place the slot accuse necessity for accurate spacing ofhas been stated.

To overcome (iiliicult' a process by means of having enpancieci hearing"ends of the slots, 1 and Whereh accurately vention.

n the practice my L it at punched in the two end sicts in the in each oipunched l ecessary, part surface is to he niec'i. we end siots iinli:anti the one end? siot in the yo u coincide at one enoi with. thefinished slot, so that at the forward end Where the exnandeti bearing;surface is to he formed the as initial slot fails consioterahly shortoi? the 'lihus'there is a considerable amount of metal at the end of theinitial slot which has yet to he clisplaceti he'iore the hearing:surface can he formeti. An. important feature ct my invention consistsin upsetting; this naetai to increase thickness of the link or yoke atthis point and thus form an expanded bearing surface. By this operationthe slot is lengthened and by by holding the blank in a position whichis accurately predetermined, and by likewise accurately predeterminingthe stroke of the upsetting tool, the bearing surface is spaced from anypoint on the link or yoke with the utmost accuracy. As I have previouslypointed out, the points to be accurately spaced on the links are thebearing surface at the front end of the front slot and the bearingsurface at the rear end of the rear slot, and on the yokes, the hearingsurface at the front end of the slots, and some other bearing surface asthat at the front face of the rear arm of the yoke. As herein pointedout, the link or yoke is preferably supported at one of these pointswhile the bearing surface at the other is being formed.

Preferably the upset metal is caused to flow to one side only of thelink or yoke, 2'. e., that which will be turned toward the 1 center ofthe draft gear, so that the other side presents a flat face which may bedisposed toward the draft timbers.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a draft link and a yokemanufactured in accordance with myprocess in its preferred form.together with certain features of an apparatus by means of which themethod or process may be put into operation.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section through the female die, the maledie and link being. shown in elevation. Fig. 2 is a section of the diestaken at right angles to Fig. 1 but showing a yoke, partly in sectionand partly in elevation. Fig. 3 shows a portion of a link or yoke withthe preliminary slot, the slot as completed with the upset portion orexpanded bearing surface being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 4 is a bottomplan of the male die.

-' scribed, is a chamber 7 to receive the dis placed metal from the endof the slot in the link or yoke, and to form the same into a shoulder 8on the face of the link or yoke whereby the thickness of the latter isincreased, and the bearing surface 9 at the end of the slot expanded.Any suitable means may be provided for moving one section of the die asand forcing it against the other section 5" to inclose the end of theblank. The male die 2, shown in plan in Fig. 4, consists of a block 10having an extension 11 which fits in the preliminary slot in the linkand serves as an upsetting tool to enlarge the slot, displacing themetal so that it flows into the chamber 7 forming the shoulder 8. Thisupsetting tool 11 is enlarged adjacent the block at 12, forming a guidewhich fits in the groove 6 in the female die. Its bottom face 23 iscontinuous with the bottom face 24: of the upsetting tool proper, andthe continuous bottom face forms the bearing surface on the blank at theend of the finished slot. The lower end of the guide 12 has flat faces21 at each side which form the top faces 22 of the shoulder 8 of theblank.

For the purpose of holding the yoke or link during the upsettingoperation so that the bearing surfaces may be accurately spaced aspreviously described, I provide stationary supports 13 and 14, the firstto be used in connection with the links to engage the bearing face 15which is opposed to the bearing face 9 being formed, and the second, 14,supports the yoke, preferably engaging the front face 16 of the rear armof the same.

In the practice of my process or method,

,,.i-n its preferred form, I punch or otherwise fof'm in the heatedblank of the desired length a slot 17, see Fig. 3, the word punch beingused herein in a broad sense as designatingany method of making a slot,one end of which slot is spaced from the pointfixed for the end 18 ofthe finished slot ing temperature being thus maintained throughout theoperation, is then inserted in the aperture 5 of the female die or insection 5" thereof. The section 5 is forced against the section 5inclosing the end of the blank. The upsetting tool 11 of the male die isfitted in the preliminary slot in the link or yoke, the guide 12entering the guide slot 6 in the female die. The male die moves downwithout appreciable resistance until it engages the end of the slot inthe blank. When thus seated, the male die is forced down until its lowerstop face 19 engages the corresponding stop face 20 of the female die,or the dies are moved relatively in any preferred manner to effect thenecessary upsetting stroke. At this time the surplus metal at the end ofthe slot 17 is displaced, and the chamber 7 is filled by the displacedmetal' forming the shoulder 8, and the bearing surfaceat the end of theslot is increased in length by the width of the shoulder, taking itscontour from the bottom of the upsetting tool. In forming the slot inthe yoke or the second slot in the link, the bearing surface alreadyformed designated 16 in one case and 15 in the other. should be restedon the corresponding support 14. in the one case and 13 in the other. sothat the distance'between the bearing faces 9 and 15 of the link, andthe distance between the front face 16 of the rear arm of the yoke, andthe bearing face 9 of the slot in the yoke, will be exactly the distancebetween the top face of the support 13 or 14, as the case may be, andthe top face of the female die increased by the length of the upsettingtool 11 of the male die, measured from the bottom face 19 of the block10. It is apparent that if the length of the blanks be accuratelydetermined the bearing surfaces may be spaced with exactness without thesupports 13 and 14 as they are formed at a predetermined distance fromthe adjacent ends of the blanks.

By the practice of the process, which is the subject 'of my invention,the links or yokes with expanded bearing surfaces at the ends of theslots, are thus manufactured with increased economy and accuracy, theshoulder providing the increased bearing surface being formed andaccurately placed by a single stroke.

I have thus described the method or process of my invention in itspreferred.

form, and in connection with that method I have described an apparatusby means of which the method may be put into practice. However, I desireto have it understood that the process is entirely-independent of theapparatus which I have described and in nowise limited to the detailsthereof. The scope of my invention is defined in the claims.

I claim 1. In the manufacture of a metal-draft link or yoke having anelongated key slot, the method of expanding the bearing surface at theend of the slot, which conslsts in making a short preliminary slot andincreasing the length of the slot by displacing the metal at one endthereof, thereby locally increasing the thickness of the link and thearea of the bearing surface at the end of the slot.

2. In the manufacture of a slotted metal draft link, themethodof-expanding the bearing surface at the end of the slot which consistsin punching a short preliminary slot and increasing the length of theslot by upsetting the metal at one end only thereof, and causing it toflow to one side only of the link, thereby forming a shoulder andlocally increasingthe thickness of the link and. the area of the bearingsurface at the end of the slot.

3. In forging a slotted dra-ft link or yoke, the method of producing anexpanded bearing surface at one end of the slot which conslsts 1npunching a short preliminary slot, lnclosing the end of the link in afemale the -having a chamber beyond the end of the preliminary slot, andinserting a male die in the slot and moving the male die toward thechamber, upsetting the metal. beyond the end of the slot, and elongatingthe slot whereby the thickness of the metal at this point and the areaof the bearing surface are increased.

4. In a slotted draft link or yoke, the method of producing an expandedbearing surface at the end of the slotwhich consists n punching a shortpreliminary slot, inclosing the'end of the link in a female die having achamber beyond the end of the preliminary slot, inserting a male die inthe slot, and moving the male die toward the chamber, upsetting themetal beyond the end of the slot and causing it to flow to one sideonly, elongating the slot to the desired di mension and increasing thethickness of the link or yoke at this point.

5. In the manufacture of a slotted draft link or yoke, the method ofpositioning the bearing surface at the end of the slot, which consistsin making an elongated preliminary slot spaced from the'point at whichthe bearing surface is to be located, and further elongating the slot tobring its end with the bearing surface to the predetermined position,thereby unsetting the metal at the end of the slot and increasing thebearing sur face at that point.

6. In the manufacture of a slotted draft link or yoke, the method ofpositioning the bearing surface at the end of the slot, which consistsin heating the metal, punching a short preliminary slot spaced from thepoint at which the bearing surface to be located, inserting a tooltherein and moving it relatively to the blank, thereby elongating theslot to bring its end and the bearing surface thereon to thepredetermined position.

7. In the manufacture of a slotted draft link or yoke, the method ofpositioning a bearing surface at the end of the slot and expanding thebearing surface, which con sists in forming a short preliminary slottherein, spaced from the position the bearing surface is to occupy,inserting the slotted portion in a female die having a chamber adjacentthe predetermined position of the bearing surface. inserting a male diein the slot, and forcing it down until a stop on the male die engages astop on the female die, displacing the metal at the end of the slot,causing it to flow into the chamber, forming a shoulder whereby thethickness of the link or yoke is increased at this point and the bearingsurface expanded.

8. In the manufacture of a slotted draft link or yoke, the 'method ofpositioning a bearing surface at the end of the slot and spacing thesame from another bearing surl thereon bears against a stop surface onthe face on the same link or yoke, which consists 1 female die. 1 inmaking a preliminary slot in the blank, Signed at Baltimore, Md., this12 day of inserting the slotted portion in a female (lie, March 1912.

:'- supporting the bearing surface already THOMAS HARRISON SYMINGTQN.

formed on a member fixed relatively to the Witnesses:

A. H. WESTON, I. O.-WRIGHT.

female die, inserting a male die in the slot, and forcing 1t. down untila stop surface

